Women's Swimming & Diving Headline

Wednesday February 11, 2004Swim & Dive Fares Well In Day 2 At Spring Nationals

The fourth-ranked University of Florida swimming team and the fifth- ranked men's team tallied NCAA automatic and provisional qualifying marks, as well as qualifying times for the Olympic Trials during the second day of the USA Spring Nationals at the YMCA Aquatic and Family Center.

Sophomore Vipa Bernhardt (Bad Hersfeld, Germany) finished fifth in the A finals of the 200-meter breaststroke with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 2:31.37. Her time also is a season-best.

In the 200-meter backstroke, freshman Leah Retrum (Columbus, Ind.) finished fifth in the preliminaries with an NCAA provisional time of 2:16.00. Retrum's prelim time also qualifies her for the Olympic Trials. Retrum clocked a time of 2:18.52 in the A final for an eighth place finish. Junior Maureen Farrell (Northridge, Calif.) finished in 10th place with a time of 2:17.58 to qualify for the B final and the Olympic Trials. Farrell placed fifth in the B final with a time of 2:18.38. Former Gator Jamie Reid (Orlando, Fla.) finished second in the 200-meter backstroke finals with a time of 2:14.23, an Olympic Trials cut.

Junior Rebecca Harper (Richmond, Va.) swan her way to a second- place finish in the C final of the 200-meter butterfly with a season-best time of 2:16.84. Reid finished seventh in the C final with a time of 2:19.08.

On the men's side, Senior Carlos Jayme (Goias, Brazil) finished third in the B final of the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 51.06. The time was an NCAA provisional mark -- his fourth provisional time in the event this season.

Sophomore Brian Hartley (Indianapolis, Ind.) posted the 17th fastest and a season-best time of 2:06.19 in the prelims of the 200-meter back. Hartley finished in seventh place in the B final with a time of 2:07.01. Senior Chris Kellam (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) swam a time of 2:06.24 to finish runner-up in the C final.

Former Gator Bryan Kim, a 1996 and 2000 Olympian, finished fourth in the B final of the 200-meter butterfly (2:03.64), while former Gator All- American Eric Donnelly posted a fourth-place finish in the C final (2:05.02).

The Gators return to the pool tomorrow morning for day three of Spring Nationals. Live results are available at